2012 - The Greatest Sporting Year

Will Greenwood will always remember City's first Premier League title, David Lloyd was spell-bound by Saeed Ajmal and Kammy was amazed by Mo Farah...

Last Updated: 28/12/12 10:15am

Rugby Union highlight of the year

December the first, when England beat New Zealand, is pretty strong and yet the Leinster v Clermont semi final in Bordeaux rates really high for me too. Then there is Argentina's 16-16 draw against South Africa and how they performed all through their first Rugby Championship. As an old Quin watching Harlequins lift the Premiership trophy is also way up there. However as someone who supports Manchester City - and in a year when City lost the Premier League title and then won it - I think the crowd reaction in Bordeaux to Wesley Fofana scoring and then realising that he hadn't scored which gave Leinster the win is my highlight.

Other sporting highlight of the year

Manchester City, 2-1 down and with no time left on the clock. Dzeko comes on as a sub. Corner, and bam he slams it in! We believe! Balotelli round the corner, Aguero hops over, Martin Tyler goes mad, the United fans could not believe it...AGUERO!!!!! I had my father and son moment with my eight year old. It does not get better than that!

Chris Kamara (Sky Sports Football)

Football highlight of the year

I'll never, ever forget how the final day of last season panned out. It was pure theatre and the best moment of the year by a million, million miles. If you went to the cinema to watch a movie on football and they came up with the ending that we had on the final day of the season, where Manchester United have just got their result against Sunderland and they're waiting for the result from Manchester City against Queens Park Rangers and then Sergio Aguero buries the winner with next to no time left, you wouldn't believe it. But it happened in real life! I watched it in a pub in Chiswick with Ben Shephard, Peter Reid, and producer Adam Chenery after doing Goals on Sunday that morning. We had the games on different screens so we saw all the jubilation, and all the anguish on what was a magical game of football. When Aguero scored there was total disbelief - we were asking ourselves, 'has this really happened? You've got to be joking...'

Other sporting highlight of the year

The moment when Mo Farah won his second gold medal at the London Olympics, adding the 5,000m to his 10,000m victory, was absolutely fantastic. Countries like Ethiopia and Kenya had dominated middle-distance running for such a long time that it was hard to believe Mo could succeed but it was like turning back the clock to the days of Seb Coe and Steve Ovett; so how ironic was it that Coe who was the main man behind this Olympics?! Mo's tactics were superb; it was a bit like watching a jockey on board a horse biding his time before deciding the right time to go for the line. It was absolutely brilliant and had me glued to my TV set.

David Lloyd (Sky Sports Cricket)

Cricket highlight of the year

I quite fancied England to beat Pakistan in the UAE, but despite all those hours of practice with the Merlyn machine the batsmen fell under Saeed Ajmal's spell. He set the tone for a 3-0 defeat by bagging 7-55 in the first innings of the opening Test in Dubai and all told took 24 wickets at 15 apiece in the series. Too many of England's batsmen played back when they should have been forward, and too many didn't know which way the ball was turning! Like Graeme Swann, Ajmal gets a large proportion of wickets through DRS from hitting on the front foot and for all the talk about special deliveries, it was his 'goes on-er' which proved particularly dangerous as England didn't expect him to bowl it so quickly. Dig in they didn't!

Other sporting highlight of the year

Blimey, how good was that Mo Farah? He can come and be my runner any time... He was great in the 10,000m but flippin' brilliant on the last lap of the 5,000m - I haven't seen anyone move that quickly since I had to make a dash for the gents after a particularly devastating curry at the Blue Mango, down the bottom of Broad Street. Apparently, Mo spent hours running on a treadmill in the bath before the Olympics to build up his stamina - a bit like Red Rum used to. They use those water tanks quite a lot for horses, apparently, especially polo horses. Makes you wonder why horses don't play water polo...

Glen McCrory (Sky Sports Boxing)

Boxing highlight of the year

I loved seeing Juan Manuel Marquez finally get a win over Manny Pacquiao at the fourth attempt and he proved that with enough determination and skill you can achieve anything, but I will never forget the success of Nicola Adams at the London Olympics, either. She became the first woman to win an Olympic boxing gold and she just beamed when she picked up her medal. The fact she is such a sweet person, too, made it even better.

Other sporting highlight of the year

Bradley Wiggins' wins at the Tour de France and the Olympic time trial pleased me because I really like the guy's personality and dress sense. I love someone with a bit of style and someone who can wear a velvet jacket - and someone with big sideburns! I would definitely invite Wiggins to my last supper, along with Carl Froch and Jack Charlton.

Matt Le Tissier (Sky Sports Football)

Football highlight of the year

There are two things that stand out for me, really. One is Sergio Aguero winning the title for Manchester City in the last seconds of the season, simply because of the drama of it all. Sitting next to Merse commentating on that was quite an experience! The only thing that comes close to that is Chelsea getting through against Barcelona at the Nou Camp; to get past that team with just 10 men on the pitch was an awesome achievement. When Fernando Torres scored in the last minute it was a moment I will never forget.

Other sporting highlight of the year

Away from football, the Ryder Cup, Mo Farah and Bradley Wiggins are the things that really stand out. If I had to pick my favourite moment of them all it would be Mo Farah's second gold medal when he held off all the challenges that were thrown at him by the pack. They kept coming at him, but he kept finding more and finding more and it was an awesome sight to see him cross the line first. It was unbelievable how he kept going and going. I was sitting at home going for it myself!

Damon Hill (Sky Sports F1)

F1 highlight of the year

For me, the early part of the season was so apparently random; it was exciting that so many drivers had a chance. Overall the Championship has been a classic and it went down to the wire. There's no specific thing that stands out but Pastor Maldonado's win in Spain - in a Williams of course - the United States and Abu Dhabi Grands Prix and Fernando Alonso's brilliant drive in Valencia have all been highlights. Also, Kimi Raikkonen's outburst in Abu Dhabi was a watershed. Teams should stop treating drivers like babies and leave them alone. They might get more from the drivers that way.

Other sporting highlight of the year

It has to be the Ryder Cup victory by the Europeans over the United States. Watching the drama unfold on Saturday night and it looked like it was all over, done and dusted. Then Ian Poulter was visited by the spirit of Seve Ballesteros and he just pulled the whole team up by the boots straps. It was brilliant to watch - gripping right to the end. I watched it with a friend and we both said that we cannot win this, and then we just watched the United States just disappear like Scotch mist and the Europeans come through to win. It was a spectacular sporting moment.

Matt Floyd (Sky Sports Cricket)

Cricket highlight of the year

Kevin Pietersen scored three of the best Test hundreds in recent memory in 2012 but the West Indies winning the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka was my moment of the year. Everyone knows the Windies have been a side on the slide since the glory days of the 70s, 80s and early 90s but before the tournament there was a genuine feeling that they could be the dark horses. They were the most powerful batting team, had a genuine match winner with the ball in Sunil Narine and were very athletic in the field. In many ways West Indies v Sri Lanka was the dream final - the exciting, unorthordox hosts against the new calypso kings who had endeared themselves to everyone with their cricket and sense of fun. In the end the Sri Lankans collapsed under the weight of expectation to spark possibly the best celebrations ever on a sporting field - Chris Gayle's one handed press ups, some ridiculous dancing from the whole team and a couple of hilarious and emotional interviews. I was lucky enough to be there, and I can tell you that the party continued long into the night, morning and in some cases afternoon!

Other sporting highlight of the year

Man City winning the Premier League with that last gasp Sergio Aguero goal. Sure the Olympics was hands down the best event of the year but in terms of pure theatre the finish to the 2011/12 Premier League season was unparalleled in my mind. Firstly, it's astonishing that a 38 game season can be decided by not just one, but two injury time goals and also go down to goal difference. Secondly, there were so many other stories that made the season so incredible - Manchester United's completely unpredictable collapse having had an eight-point lead with six games to go, City's first league win since 1968, City's 6-1 win at Old Trafford to name three... I'd have preferred Arsenal to take the title but a finish like that was the next best thing!